Mayor's August 24, 2020 Update

Greetings! On August 12, 2020 the City took the final step to acquire property located at 520 McKinley Street from the Waupun Historical Society. In 2017, the Historical Society announced they would be closing the facility due to financial constraints and had been working since that time to sell the property. This past June, city staff finalized work to amend an existing tax increment district (TID) boundary to include the property. This allowed the city to use increment generated by the TID to acquire the property and prepare the site for redevelopment without impacting our tax levy. So what happens now? DPW crews have been working to clean up overgrown shrubs and weeds as well as remove damaged exterior items and old, unsafe playground equipment from the site. Additionally, our economic development team is working to solicit interest to redevelop the site. It is too early to say exactly what will happen with the building until we work through this process but rest assured there is active work underway to convert the property into a productive use. You may be wondering what has happened with the Waupun Historical Society. After being closed for months, the Historical Society is once again open at the Carnegie building on South Madison Street. The board of the Historical Society did some amazing work reoccupy that space. I had a chance to visit the museum recently and I highly recommend a visit. The museum is open to the public on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month. More information can be found on their website.

I have received some questions about bulk pickup this fall. I’m happy to say that we are able to resume normal curbside pickup service this fall. Bulk pickup is scheduled for Monday, October 5 through Wednesday, October 7. Please have your items out on the curb when it is your scheduled day for garbage pickup. Example, if your garbage pick up is on Tuesday, then your bulk items will also be picked up that same day. Please remember bulk service is for large items that do not fit in your garbage or recycling container. We will post an additional reminder as we get closer to October.

Around town, a free, drive-thru COVID-19 testing site is planned for Waupun on August 21 and 22 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. The clinic will be held in Waupun High School parking lot. Online registration is available 24 hours in advance or upon arrival at the site.

Additional information on the above items can be found on the city’s website. Stay safe and we’ll talk again soon Waupun!